Tina quit her job as a CPA believing God wanted her to devote herself to His service. Temporarily, she was doing volunteer bookkeeping for her church. One day she walked into her church office and was asked to go to the court house to register the van. Unaccustomed to being handed such a menial job, she was tempted to feel resentment, but she said, "As soon as I yielded that immediate human response, I was filled with joy. My heart was as light as a feather as I drove away."

I met Linda at a board meeting, and we stayed afterwards to talk. She said, "God asked me two years ago to quit teaching and to spend my time working with the unlovely. I miss the money, but the joy I've discovered is a more pure joy and more fulfilling than all the respect I enjoyed as a teacher.

"At first, I did the ministry unwillingly, complaining to the Lord that I was not appreciated and that nobody was noticing. He let me know that He would not accept such offerings.

"I discovered that God would give me grace to give my time and efforts willingly and to find joy in that giving. He also gave me grace to be contented with less. A small burger from Wendy's thrills me now when before I hardly appreciated a more expensive meal at a nice restaurant."

Peter wrote about being "redeemed from the empty way of life" (1 Peter 1:18). Tina and Linda have found the better way.

Thank You, Jesus, that the rewards for following You are always more than we anticipate.

"Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done and what I had toiled to achieve, everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind; nothing was gained under the sun" (Ecclesiastes 2:11).